Miscanthus is a tall perennial grass that has been evaluated in Europe during the past 5-10 years as a new bioenergy crop.  It is similar to switchgrass.  I have heard that the University of Illinois has recently been doing research to see if this is a viable crop for US farmers and the results look favorable.  The plant not only grows well in the Midwest, it crowds out the weeds and needs little fertilization.  Miscanthus can be harvested every year with a sugar cane harvester and can be grown in relatively cool climates. Like other bioenergy crops, the harvested stems of miscanthus may be used as fuel for production of heat and electric power, or for conversion to other useful products such as ethanol. 

I am enthusiastic about crop research that could lead to different feed stocks for energy and ethanol, but I question research being done on plants that would/could grow in areas that are already heavily farmed.  This could only lead to changing one crop for another which as we see today leads to supply imbalances.  I know this is a tall request, but shouldn’t we be looking for or engineering a species that grows in what is currently waste land?